Visualizing Angkor Project

For anyone who has ever been curious about what life looked like at Angkor Wat in the 12th century, now you can take a look — and not just at physical structures, but also how people moved throughout the environment as they went about their day. Monash University’s SensiLab has released two interactive digital exhibits based on complex simulations.

Since 2015, Monash University has been developing a virtual model to interrogate how the complex might have functioned in the 12th Century. This virtual world is made of digital reconstructions of architecture and cultural landscapes.

A complementary objective is to consider the operation of Angkor Wat through the dynamic animation of moving crowds of people. In this immersive analytic study of the complex, the paths of thousands of walking agents (animated characters with autonomous behaviours) are tracked as they enter, exit and circulate within the temple enclosure.

In contrast to archaeological studies that plot change over decades or centuries, this simulation focuses on 24 hours; a day in the life of medieval Angkor Wat.